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Overview of the Safety Instrumented System (SIS) Management Module

The SIS Management module lets you manage the logic solvers and instrumented functions that are in place in a facility to monitor and maintain controlled processes and ensure the efficiency and safety of those processes.

Using SIS Management, you can conduct a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) analysis, which you can use to assess the integrity of the safety instrumented systems and to uncover areas that may require further safeguarding. An SIL analysis (pronounced S-I-L) lets you assign a numeric rating to the instrumented functions that you are analyzing. This numeric rating represents the level of protection that those systems provide.

To conduct an SIL analysis in SIS Management, a team will:

• Define the function of the safety instrumented systems that will be assessed.
• Identify the undesirable consequences that the safety instrumented systems are designed to prevent.
• Test the components of the safety instrumented systems to determine if its performance is meeting the specified requirements and identify failures that may be occurring within those systems.
• Based on the test results, determine where further improvements are needed within the safety instrumented systems.

In addition, the SIS Management module provides the tools necessary for compliance with the standard specified in International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61511.

Example: Safety Instrumented System

Consider a heating element that heats the temperature of a room to reach and maintain the desired temperature (e.g., 20 degrees Celsius). If the temperature increases too rapidly, the temperature change could lead to a chain of events that may result in equipment failure or a catastrophic event. To prevent a rapid temperature increase during the heating process, a sensor within the thermometer continually measures the temperature, and relays that information to a computer. The computer decides whether the temperature is increasing at intervals that are in line with the specified safe limits for this process. If the data transmitted to the computer indicates that the temperature is increasing too rapidly, it will send a command to the heating element to decrease the temperature.

Together, the sensor within the thermometer, the computer, and the heating element act as a safety instrumented system that monitors the process of heating a room to ensure that it is performed safely and efficiently.

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